Born in Armenia, soprano Nina Minasyan graduated from the Tchaikovsky Music School and went on to study at the Yerevan State Conservatory as a student of Nonna Melkumova. In 2011, she won First Prize at the Sazandaryan and Lisitsian Competition. Minasyan began the current season with her debut in Vienna as The Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte. She subsequently made her debut at the Cologne Opera as Gilda in Rigoletto, a role which she later reprised for her debut at the Hamburg State Opera. Minasyan also returned to the Paris Opera as Oscar in Un ballo in maschera. She ends the season with her debut as Olympia in Les contes d’Hoffmann at the Holland Festival in Amsterdam. Future engagements include her debuts at the Semperoper Dresden and Zurich Opera as the title role in Lucia di Lammeroor, as well as The Queen of the Night at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.

In 2011, Nina Minasyan entered the Young Artists Program of the Bolshoi Theatre, where she studied with Philippe Auguin, Richard Bado, Mzia Bakhturidze, Alessandro Bicci, Alberto Zedda, Carol Vaness, Irina Bogacheva, Michael Heaston, Inga Kalna, Evgeny Nesterenko, Elena Obraztsova, Luba Orfenova, Stephanie Rhodes, Semjon Skigin, Elizabeth Vidal, Kenneth Weiss, Dolora Zajick, Rene Jacobs, and Diane Zola. She made her debut at the Bolshoi as Xenia in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov and then went on to perform the roles of Second Lady in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Masha in Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades and Princess Ninetta in Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges. In March of 2013, Minasyan made a successful role debut as Lisa in the new production of Bellini’s La Sonnambula at the Bolshoi, directed by Pier Luigi Pizzi and conducted by Enrique Mazzola. In March of 2014, she made her role debut as The Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, making her debut as Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto in December of the same year, staged by Robert Carsen and conducted by Evelino Pido. In the 2015/16 season, Minasyan returned to the Bolshoi as Gilda and made her debuts as Norina in a new production of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale and The Queen of Shemakha in The Golden Cockerel.

In December of 2014, Minasyan made her European debut as The Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. She also appeared at the Frankfurt Opera as Lisa in a new production of La sonnambula, conducted by Eun Sun Kim and directed by Tina Lanik. In 2010, Minasyan became a soloist of the Erevan Conservatory Opera Studio, where she has performed the roles of Serpina in La Serva Padrona and Serafina in Il campanello. Her repertoire also includes the roles of Amina in La sonnambula, Adina in L’elisir d’amore, Musetta in La Boheme, Marfa in The Tsar’s Bride and Despina in Cosi fan tutte.

Minasyan’s engagements from the 2016/17 season included the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor at the Bavarian State Opera and for her debut at the Paris Opera, and The Queen of Shemakha in Rimsy-Korsakov’s The Golden Cockerel for her debuts at the Teatro Real in Madrid and Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels.

Nina Minasyan’s concert experiences include a tour throughout England and Italy, performing Rossini’s La Donna del Lago in the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, conducted by Luciano Acocella, as well as Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, conducted by Vassily Sinaisky. In December of 2012, she performed at New York City’s Carnegie Hall in a concert entitled “New Stars for a New Century,” conducted by Constantine Oberlian. Minasyan also took part in numerous concerts with the Young Artist Program in Moscow and throughout Russia.

This Sunday evening, Tony Award winner and frequent artist at The Metropolitan Opera, Paulo Szot, will perform selections from Broadway, opera and art song at the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, New York City. All proceeds will benefit the Barbara Volcker Center for Women and Rheumatic Diseases at the Hospital for Special Surgery. Don't miss out!